New English Translation
Deuteronomy 20:18
18so that they cannot teach you all the abhorrent ways they worship their gods, causing you to sin against the Lord your God.
Deuteronomy 20:18 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the Lord your God.
- New International Version (NIV)Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God.
- English Standard Version (ESV)that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God.
- New King James Version (NKJV)lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the Lord your God.
Context of Deuteronomy 20:18
16As for the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing to survive. 17Instead you must utterly annihilate them – the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites – just as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that they cannot teach you all the abhorrent ways they worship their gods, causing you to sin against the Lord your God. 19If you besiege a city for a long time while attempting to capture it, you must not chop down its trees, for you may eat fruit from them and should not cut them down. A tree in the field is not human that you should besiege it! 20However, you may chop down any tree you know is not suitable for food, and you may use it to build siege works against the city that is making war with you until that city falls.
Read all of Deuteronomy 20Deuteronomy 20:18 word by word
לְמַ֗עַן אֲשֶׁ֨ר לֹֽא־יְלַמְּד֤וּ אֶתְכֶם֙ לַעֲשׂ֔וֹת כְּכֹל֙ תּֽוֹעֲבֹתָ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשׂ֖וּ לֵֽאלֹהֵיהֶ֑ם וַחֲטָאתֶ֖ם לַיהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃ סRead the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Deuteronomy 20:18
- Deuteronomy 7:4for they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will quickly destroy you.
- Deuteronomy 12:30After they have been destroyed from your presence, be careful not to be ensnared like they are; do not pursue their gods and say, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do the same.”
- Deuteronomy 18:19I will personally hold responsible anyone who then pays no attention to the words that prophet speaks in my name.
- Exodus 23:33They must not live in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
- Joshua 23:13know for certain that the Lord our God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. They will trap and ensnare you; they will be a whip that tears your sides and thorns that blind your eyes until you disappear from this good land the Lord your God gave you.
- Judges 2:3At that time I also warned you, ‘If you disobey, I will not drive out the Canaanites before you. They will ensnare you and their gods will lure you away.’”
- Psalms 106:34They did not destroy the nations, as the Lord had commanded them to do.
- 1 Corinthians 15:33Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”
- 2 Corinthians 6:17Therefore “come out from their midst, and be separate,” says the Lord, “and touch no unclean thing, and I will welcome you,
- Ephesians 5:11Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
- 2 Thessalonians 3:14But if anyone does not obey our message through this letter, take note of him and do not associate closely with him, so that he may be ashamed.
- 1 Timothy 6:5and constant bickering by people corrupted in their minds and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a way of making a profit.
- 2 Timothy 2:17and their message will spread its infection like gangrene. Hymenaeus and Philetus are in this group.
- Revelation 18:3For all the nations have fallen from the wine of her immoral passion, and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have gotten rich from the power of her sensual behavior.”
Commentaries on Deuteronomy 20:18
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 10-20Verses 10-20 Directions intended to prevent wanton destruction of life and property in sieges. Deuteronomy 20:16 Forbearance, however, was not to be shown toward the Canaanite nations, which were to be utterly exterminated (compare Deuteronomy 7:1-4). The command did not apply to beasts as well as men (compare Joshua 11:11, Joshua 11:14). Deuteronomy 20:19 The parenthesis may he more literally rendered “for man is a tree of the field,” i. e., has his life…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 10-2010-20. When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it--An important principle is here introduced into the war law of Israel regarding the people they fought against and the cities they besieged. With "the cities of those people which God doth give thee" in Canaan, it was to be a war of utter extermination (De 20:17, 18). But when on a just occasion, they went against other nations, they were first to make a proclamation…Read the comment
Topics related to Deuteronomy 20:18
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Deuteronomy 20
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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